Kenyan MPs have quietly voted themselves a £17 million bonus to be paid when
they leave office, despite the country's president vetoing an earlier
attempt to approve the package.

The Bill, agreed in a late-night parliamentary sitting on Wednesday, also gave each former MP an armed guard for life, a diplomatic passport, guaranteed access to airport VIP lounges, and a state funeral.

Kenya's legislators are already among the highest paid in the world, earning £82,000 a year, compared to a backbench British MP's £65,738 salary.

Mwai Kibaki, the president, threw out his MPs' attempts to pass the same Bill in October, calling it "unconstitutional" and "unaffordable". It would take the average Kenyan 66 years to earn the £75,000 each MP will take home under the measure.

It was not clear if Mr Kibaki would be able to block the Bill's passage a second time.

As Kenya enters the last two months before elections, the supposedly cash-strapped government – which could not raise money for teachers' salary increases – has announced a raft of new spending.